A Few Moments in a Day - Caught Between Gross and Appealing
by imdoingthiswhy
Summary: Fluffy. A bad day at work gets better...after the surprise is over. Rated T to be on the safe side


A Few Moments in a Day

Caught Between Gross and Appealing

The case Beckett and Castle were working on was tough to for them from the start. It was difficult for both of them when the killings included several members of the same family, and the more the case progressed, the more depressing it became. Now and then they needed more than a loving look to help them deal with things; but they were determined to stay professional at the precinct; so they soldiered through, no matter how it tore at them, even when it was discovered that a young child was also a victim.

Late in the day, a teenager, sadly the suspect in the deaths of his family members, was brought in, high on drugs and out of control. It took two uniforms to keep him from raging out of the elevator and straight into the bullpen. He almost got away just as Castle and Beckett were going to the break room for coffee and nearly knocked the detective off her feet. Esposito immediately got up to help subdue the young man, and Castle reached to catch Beckett before she fell.

"Put him in holding until he calms down," Beckett ordered as she regained her balance and almost lost it again.

"With pleasure," one of the uniforms responded, and Esposito followed, in case they needed help again.

"Hey, I got you," Castle told Beckett as he made sure she was steady on her feet.

"Always," she smiled at him over her shoulder, winning a heart-warming smile from him in return.

Standing behind her and unable to help himself, he left his hands at her waist and kissed the crown of her head.

Kate allowed herself a couple of seconds to close her eyes and savor the touch and quietly say, "I needed that so much...but we're at work."

"Me, too," Castle agreed, moving far enough away to look professional again.

Kate turned and grinned at him, then whispered, "You are so getting lucky tonight."

"Can't wait," he answered softly, trying not to give them away as they walked back to her desk…coffee forgotten in the previous distractions.

They put the last of their present information on the board and went to check on the suspect, who was still ranting in the holding cell. Coming back to the bullpen, Kate told the boys, "He's in no shape for an interrogation. They'll keep an eye on him in holding, and eventually he'll wear himself down. He can sleep it off, and we'll see if we can get anything out of him in the morning."

"It took all three of us to get him in that cell," Esposito answered. "You don't have to convince me we should leave him there."

She chuckled as she collected her things.

"It's five o'clock. We're going home," Castle announced to the other two men. "You got everything?" he asked, looking back at Beckett.

"Yeah. This day needs to be over."

"Amen to that," Ryan chimed in. "We'll be right behind you."

xxxxx

The key snicked in the lock, and Castle opened the door, letting Beckett in the loft before him. Once inside, it took him no time to crush Kate roughly against the door, pinning her with his body, saying, "God, Kate, I love you," and following with a hard, smoldering kiss. She responded with equal force, growling in the back of her throat with pleasure.

Suddenly a young voice said, "I'm not looking, but you should know I'm here."

Rick and Kate exploded apart and turned toward the sound.

"Alexis, I'm sorry," Kate apologized. "I know that wasn't something you ever wanted to see…or hear." Her face would have been flushed anyway, but embarrassment added to that.

"I'm sorry, too, honey. We didn't expect you to be here."

"Yeah, I could tell," Alexis answered, turning slowly to be sure it was okay to look again. "Maybe I should start calling when my plans change?"

"No!" Kate protested. "You're out of school for the summer, and it's your home. You shouldn't have to call. We just need to always assume someone will be here…and be…more careful." She was standing in front of Castle, and she took off her jacket and handed it to him, knowing he might be uncomfortable talking to his daughter in his present state. Offering him a minute or two to recover from what had actually started well before they were inside the apartment, she asked, "Why don't you put our coats in the bedroom?"

Before he left, he took her jacket, kissed her cheek from behind her, and gave her a whispered, "Thanks."

"I'm sorry, Kate…" Alexis started.

"You have nothing to apologize for. Come here."

Kate wrapped her arms around Alexis, and the girl hugged her back.

"I feel like…"

"Stop worrying about it…please. We love you and expect you be home when you want to. I'm the wild card. You aren't used to your father having a woman with him here."

"Are you okay?" Alexis sounded worried and pulled back to take another look at Kate.

"I'm fine."

"Dad didn't hurt you? I've never seen him do anything like that. He just threw you into the door and..."

"No. He didn't hurt me. He wouldn't hurt me."

"But…"

Kate ran her hand through her hair, giving herself an extra moment to think. "Sometimes love is…a little more aggressive than other times. That's all you saw."

"You sounded like you didn't mind," Alexis observed, almost making it a question, and blushing as she looked down.

Kate had a little blush of her own. "I didn't mind. If it wasn't something I was comfortable with, I would have told him…and he would have stopped.

"The two of you may have ruined my hopes for a love life forever, you know."

"Because of what you just saw?"

"No. Because of what I've seen for a while now…and what I just saw."

"What have we done that's had such a detrimental effect on your love life…other than what you just saw?"

"You've shown me what it's like to really be in love…how you have to work at it, how devoted you have to be to each other…how that," she pointed at the door, not looking directly at Kate, "is an important part, how you trust each other, how you forgive each other. I want to end up in a relationship like the two of you have. Now that I've seen one, I don't think I can settle for less than, 'God, Alexis, I love you.'" She looked down and hesitantly added, "And maybe being shoved into a door and kissed like that."

Kate pulled her into another hug and teased, "So you were impressed with your dad's moves, kid?"

"Kaaaaate…eeew!" She pushed as if she was trying to pull away, but Kate just laughed and held on, not letting her go.

"Kaaaaate…eeew!" they heard echoed from Castle as he moved toward them from the door of the study. "Are you trying to gross my daughter out?"

"Yes," Alexis answered with a little laugh, and Kate let her go.

Castle moved to take Kate's place and pulled his youngest red-head into a hug. "I'm sorry, honey. It was a really bad day at work, and we managed to keep it professional; but so many times we needed the comfort of just a good hug and couldn't have it. By the time we got here, we…"

"Yeah, I know the rest, and I don't want to know what happened after I turned away."

He pulled Alexis' head to his shoulder. "When you find somebody you think might be the right one, take the time to be sure you like each other, to be sure you're friends; but don't wait as long to talk about things as we did. And I do want you to have what we have. It was worth all the waiting and arguing and bad timing and misunderstandings to be where we are now. Kate and I both had our own issues to deal with. You don't have all that baggage. It should be easier for you."

He brushed another little kiss on her head before he added with an exaggerated little shiver, "I just wish you hadn't planted that door thing in my head."

"Yeah, well, the feeling is mutual."

"So what happened to shopping and dinner with Paige?"

"Her boyfriend had tickets to something, so I told her to go ahead. I need to look through what I had at school and what I left here and decide what take to Costa Rica; but I was going to get something to eat first," she answered, pointing to a few things on the kitchen counter.

Kate walked over to join them, wrapping one arm around Castle's waist and the other around Alexis'. "Why don't you put that away and we'll make a quick dinner. You can tell us how your plans are going and then check your closet."

"Okay."

Dinner was filled with easy conversation, all of them enjoying being together. It wasn't the evening Kate and Rick had planned when they left work, but they got to that plan later.


End file.
